June 21, 2017
By Joanne Norell
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 2017 national champion University of Notre Dame fencing program will add a long-time friend to its staff this summer as team statistician David Stabrawa will take over duties as Director of Operations following the departure of Alex Buell.
Stabrawa is a 1985 graduate of Notre Dame, earning a degree in Finance and Business Economics. He went on to earn his Notre Dame law degree in 1988.
A member of the fencing squad as an undergraduate, Stabrawa has been involved with the program ever since, working as statistician and historian for the group and providing invaluable assistance in the area of sports information. With extensive experience organizing fencing competitions on the national and international level, he also helped Notre Dame game operations and event planning in staging large-scale tournaments such as the Midwest Fencing Championships, the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, NCAA regional events and NCAA Championships.
“Since graduating from Notre Dame as an undergraduate and a law student, Dave Stabrawa has remained an invaluable asset and resource to our program and to the fencing community,” Notre Dame head coach Gia Kvaratskhelia said. “We look forward to Dave applying his skills and experience towards the continuing growth of Notre Dame fencing as our Director of Operations.”
In addition to his work with Notre Dame, Stabrawa has worked to stage many high-level fencing events. He served as the Deputy Commissioner for Fencing for the 10th Pan-American Games, held in Indianapolis, from 1985-1987 and from 1986-88 he was the assistant chair of the organizing committee for the Junior World Fencing Championships, hosted by Notre Dame. In 1996, he was the Assistant Competition Manager for Fencing for the Atlanta Olympics. In 2000, he was again the assistant chair of the organizing committee for the Junior/Cadet World Fencing Championships, held at South Bend’s Century Center.
Outside the fencing realm, Stabrawa served as the Assistant State’s Attorney for Cook County, Illinois, from 1990-2011 and remains a licensed attorney in Illinois.
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Joanne Norell, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2014 and coordinates communications efforts for the Notre Dame women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and fencing programs. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communication, and earned her master’s degree in sports industry management from Georgetown University in 2013.